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LAW
Are Racist Vagrancy Laws Coming Back? Supreme Court Weighs In
A critique of efforts to criminalize homelessness
After chattel slavery, America swiftly enacted a series of anti-vagrancy laws. This legislation, some of the first black codes, sabotaged the hard-fought Black freedom. For instance, Virginia passed the 1866 Anti-Vagrancy Act, criminalizing homelessness. And forcing any unemployed person to labor for three months, unpaid. This legislation, while it appeared race-neutral, revealed a racist intent. Because the majority of people punished using anti-vagrancy laws were Black.
As our nation braces for the Supreme Court’s verdict, those same freedoms are under fire. Justices will soon decide whether it’s legal for states to criminalize homelessness, a societal problem often portrayed as a personal failing. We’re confronted with an ugly truth. That America is better at punishing poverty, than alleviating it. Condemning someone without a bed for sleeping outdoors is cruel. But, it’s also irrational. If society can provide a bed in a jail cell and three square meals, we can afford to eradicate homelessness.
Society’s apathy toward homelessness has perpetuated their marginalization. Backing them into a corner, with seemingly no way out. Like a snake eating its own tail, stigmatization…
